New findings on lost mural
March 13 2012 at 09:53am
By Sapa-AP
The search for Leonardo da Vinci’s The Battle of Anghiari is
being conducted in Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio. The project is being led by the
National Geographic Society and University of California, in co-operation with
the city of Florence. Maurizio Seracini, the Italian engineer leading the search
for the mural, said an analysis showed the red, black and beige paint found was
consistent with organic paint Da Vinci used in his frescoes.
Researchers may have discovered traces of a lost mural by Leonardo da Vinci by poking a probe through cracks in a 16th-century fresco painted on the wall of one of Florence’s most famous buildings. The latest findings yesterday still leave much mystery in
the hunt for the Battle of Anghiari, a wall mural painted by Da Vinci
in Florence’s storied Palazzo Vecchio.
The hunt for the unfinished mural has captivated art historians for centuries. Some believe Da Vinci’s mural, which he began in 1505 to commemorate the 15th-century victory by Florence over Milan at the medieval Tuscan town of Anghiari, may be hidden behind a newer wall, which was frescoed over decades later by Giorgio Vasari. Battle of Anghiari was unfinished when Da Vinci left Florence in 1506.
Maurizio Seracini, an Italian engineer from the University of San Diego, said that the fragments of colour retrieved by the probe in the palace’s hall were consistent with pigments used by Da Vinci. He said an analysis showed that the red, black and beige
paint found was consistent with the organic paint Da Vinci used in his frescoes.
The hunt for the missing mural is being led by the National Geographic Society and the University of California in partnership with the city of Florence. Seracini and his colleagues noted that some black material found behind Vasari’s wall showed a chemical composition similar to that found in two Da Vinci works, Mona Lisa and St John the Baptist. Previously, using radar and X-rays, Seracini and his team found a cavity behind Vasari’s fresco that they think could indicate a space between the two walls.
– Sapa-AP
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